to help the students achieve the core competences CC and basic competences BC of Curriculum 2013 which consist of value of religion, value of moral and
attitude, the theories of language, and the practical application of language skills.
2. English for Specific Purposes for Vocational High School
Vocational high school students, in this case, students of Welding Engineering Department, are considered ESP learners. The main purpose of
ESP is to provide relevant English language instructions that complement the students’ needs. ESP is an approach which becomes the basis of all the elements
of the English instruction, including the selection of learning materials Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:19. ESP focuses on the language instructional
process for specific occupational or educational setting.
a. Definition of English for Specific Purposes
ɑccording to Hutchinson and Waters 1987:19, “ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on
the learners’ reason for learning.” Another definition is added by Jack Richards 2006: 17. He states that ESP as a learning approach gives more emphasize on
teaching specific language element and communicative skills which are need by the learners. As there are various kinds of learners with their own specific
needs, ESP is designed to meet the specific needs that are owned by a particular kind of learner.
In order to be able to develop an effective ESP course, teachers need to find out the learners’ needs. To do this, teachers conduct a needs analysis before
starting to develop an ESP course. According to Hutchinson and Waters 1987, in doing the needs analysis, teachers need to find out the target situation needs
and the learning needs. It has been stated that the students of welding engineering department
is SMKN 1 Sedayu are all students with specialized needs, they are categorized as ESP students. In developing the learning materials, the researcher needs to
consider the special needs of students of Welding Engineering department in SMKN 1 Sedayu as ESP learners. The developed topic and content of the
developed learning materials should be relevant to students’ job field and
students’ needs. Therefore, process of developing the English learning materials is begun by first conducting the needs analysis.
b. Needs Analysis
ESP is different from GE General English. The main difference between ESP and General English is the awareness of the needs Hutchinson
and Waters, 1987:12. Therefore, ESP teachers should understand that the needs of ESP learners is to learn the language and communication skills so that
they can use them effectively in their disciplines of study or professions Basturkmen, 2010:19. By collecting as much information as possible related
to learners’ situation of study or occupations, and which communication skills will be required in those fields, teachers can get some ideas and descriptions
about what the students’ need from the course and this gives the teachers a clear idea about how to arrange an appropriate course design that meets the needs of
the learners. The step of gathering information is termed as the needs analysis.
Needs analysis can be defined as the use of observation, surveys, interviews, situation analysis, and analysis of language samples collected in different
settings in order to determine the kinds of communication students would need to master if they were in specific occupational or educational roles and the
language features of particular settings. Hyland 2008:13 also adds that the needs analysis is like any other classroom practice in that it involves decisions
based on the teachers’ interests, values, and beliefs about teaching, learning, and language.
The first step in doing the needs analysis is to find out the target needs. The analysis of target needs focuses on three areas: necessities, lacks, and wants
Hutchinson and Waters, 1987. Necessities are what the students has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation. Necessities can be
determined by observing what situations the student will need to function in and then analyzing it to find the linguistic features-discoursal, functional,
structural, lexical- which are commonly used in the target situation of the students. The next step is to find out the student
s’ lacks. There may be some of the necessities that the students may have known and there are some the
necessities that the students have yet to know and would like to learn. The gap between what is known and what is yet to be known by the students is called
lacks. By identifying student s’ lacks, teachers can further identify what the
students truly need from the course. The last step is identifying student s’ wants.
It is related with the questions such as “what do the students wish to learn?” Knowing what the students wish to learn can give teachers an additional
information which further help to complete the information about the needs of the students in learning English.
In addition to the target needs, teachers also need to analyze the learning needs. The analysis of learning needs is to figure out anything needed to carry
out the instructional process. In other words, learning needs concerned about figuring out what the students need in order to learn the language and how the
instructional process will be carried out in order to effectively learn the language Hatchinson and Waters, 1987.
After successfully determining the student s’ needs, language items and
communication skills that are needed by the student s’ of Welding Engineering
department can now be concluded and be put into consideration when writing the learning materials. For example, from the needs analysis, it is known that
students’ main goal in learning English is to prepare themselves to work abroad as a skilled engineer and they also want additional input of vocabularies related
to Welding to be added in the learning materials. The content of the learning materials are then be decided by choosing it from the Curriculum 2013 and then
modifi ed to be able to accommodate the students’ needs. Therefore the text to
be included in the learning materials will be procedure text about how to weld metal or how to use the tools to weld metals with many vocabularies related to
welding.
3. Content-Based Instruction for Vocational High School a. Definition and Principles
Other principles in developing the learning materials are taken from the principles of CBI. Generally, CBI focuses more on the content of the text rather
than the grammatical structures. For vocational high school students, the knowledge to use and understand the language is far more important than the
knowledge about the structures of the text. Also, most principles in CBI approach do not disturb the instructional principles stated in any curriculum that
is set by the government. Therefore, in developing the learning materials which are based on Curriculum 2013 intended for vocational school students, CBI or
Content-Based Instruction is an approach which is fit to be used. Krahnke in Richards 2006: 27 defines CBI as the teaching of content
or information in the language with little or no direct effort to teaching the language itself separately from the content being taught. Richards and Rodgers
2001:204 add that CBI prefers teaching around content rather than teaching around linguistic or syllabus. Content is defined as the information or subject
matter that is learnt through language Richards, 2006:28. In CBI or Content Based Instruction, students will focus more on content rather than the language.
Language is a means to convey the content. The developed English learning materials intended for students of
Welding Engineering Department will be developed by putting more emphasize on content first before deciding the language skills. In other words, the
developed materials will use CBI as one of the basses. There are five principles
of CBI proposed by Brinton in Nunan 2004:132 that will be applied in developing the materials. The first principle is basing the instructional decisions
on content rather than language criteria. It means the content for the learning materials is determined first, as it is used as consideration in selecting the
language items, and then the language items come next. The content of the developed learning materials is decided to be relevant with welding and
students’ needs. The second principle is integrating skills. The four skills of language are
integrated together in developing the learning materials while, at the same time, grammar and vocabulary are included as parts of the skills. Here, grammar,
vocabulary, and language skills are not taught separately. All are integrated into one as part of the content in the learning material. The four skills are important
for students of Welding Engineering department to achieve their goal for their future when many job opportunities and scholarship require English as one of
the requirements. Because the target user of the developed learning materials are students of Welding Engineering department, the vocabulary will all be
related with welding. The third principle is involving students actively in all phases of the
learning process. Therefore, most of the learning activities developed in the learning materials will require students to be actively participated in finishing
the tasks together with their friends. By becoming independent, students can absorb more information and gain better understanding in learning the language
because they will be able to construct their own understanding about the
knowledge in the learning materials. Teachers only act as supplement whose role is to provide students with supplementary information and to help students
when they have problems when learning. The fourth principle is choosing content for its relevance to students’
lives, interests andor academic goals. CBI believes that the choice of the content of learning is dependent solely on the students. When the content of the
material is fit with that the students need, then the instructional process can be effectively conducted. This principle is coexist efficiently with the theories of
ESP which required all the learning materials to be relevant wit h students’
needs. The last principle is selecting authentic texts and tasks. The developed
learning materials will use authentic materials for the texts example. For students of Welding Engineering development, the authentic materials mean
that the texts used will be rotated around welding world, such as, the definition of metals, the instructions on how to use a specific welding tool, or
conversations related about a problem faced by a welder when he tried to weld a particular metal and so on. Texts and tasks which are not specially designed
for similar with real life content will make students able to learn better because they indirectly using the language that they learn in a real life situation.
b. Theories of Language and Language Learning in CBI
There are two main theories proposed in CBI about language teaching. They are theories of language and language learning Richard Rodgers, 2001.
1. Theories of language
The first theory is language is text and discourse-based. From the viewpoint of CBI, language consists of written language texts and spoken language
discourse. CBI focuses on teaching how the meaning and information are communicated through texts and discourse.
Second, language draws on integrated skills. This reflects the real world situation where people are not use only one language skills but actually four
language skills. Brinton 2003 states that CBI views language use as the integrated skills. In fact, learning one skill only is not effective. For example: it
is impossible to learn speaking without listening and writing without reading. By integrating the four skills, students are able to learn effectively. In CBI,
grammar and vocabulary are seen as components of language learning. Third is, Language is purposeful. Each language item has a purpose. When
students focused on the specific purpose of the language item, the students are able to indulge themselves in the learning process as they know that what they
are doing now is not wasteful. Fourth is, language contains great potential for communicating meaning.
Teachers who use CBI need to make adjustments and simplifications the same way that native speakers make in communicating with second language
students. The discourse that results from these simplifications is often referred to as “foreigner talk”. Teachers operating within CɒI make such “foreigner talk”
in order to make the content more comprehensible for the students.
The nature of vocational school students as ESP learners makes the students see the language as a means of communication, not as knowledge or
see the language through the eyes of a linguists. ESP learners learn language to make them able to communicate using the language, not to learn about them.
CBI proves to be compatible with the way of thinking of the ESP learners. Through the theories of the language according to CBI, it can be inferred that
CBI teaches the students how to use the language and how the language is used in the real life. So, putting that point into consideration, using CBI as one of the
basis in developing the English learning materials is deemed to be necessary.
2. Theories of Learning
CBI has its own theory regarding the process of teaching and learning. In CBI, it is believed that people learn a second language most successfully when
the information they are acquiring is perceived as interesting, useful, and leading to a desired goal. This is closely related to the learning motivation of
the students. For example, a welding engineer think that it is easier to learn report text from a report text which content is related to welding rather than a
report text which content is related to biology or any topics other than welding. Another theory of CBI states that some content areas are more useful as a basis
for language learning than others. It means, the steps of learning for every kind of students is different. Some may find that learning descriptive text after
learning about present tense makes learning easier, while others may find it otherwise.
CBI also believes that students learn best when instruction addresses students’ needs. This way, students have clear pictures about why they attend
the class and what they will do in order to achieve the learning goals. The last theory states that teaching builds on the previous experience of the students.
This theory proposed in CBI support the notion that learning processes must be continuum. What the students learn today must be useful if they want to
effectively learn in the next meeting. This way, the students will not easily forget the previous topic as they enter the new topic in the learning process.
3. Learner Roles
CɒI has its own view about the learner’s role. In CBI, students are the active interpreters of input. One of the goals of CBI is for learners to become
autonomous so that they come to understand their own learning process and take charge of their own learning from the very start Stryker and Leaver
1993:286. Students in CBI are the ones who actively decide how the course will be going. They need to willingly explore alternative learning strategies,
make multiple interpretations about the input, and even take active in choosing the topic and the activity in the class.
4. The Role of Teachers
In CBI, the main role of the teachers is to become the student ’s needs
analysts and create the learner-centered classroom Brinton 1989 in Richards and Rodgers 2004:214. Also, teachers need to have good knowledge about
the subject matter and have the ability to elicit that knowledge from their students Stryker and Leaver 1993:286. As CBI prefers learner-centered
learning, teachers should not be too involved in the teaching and learning process. It is enough for the teachers just to make the situation where students
are learning independently and maintain that situation.
5. The Role of Materials
The materials used in CBI are authentic materials. The authenticity of the materials implies that the materials are similar with materials used in native
language instruction, such as reports or article in a newspaper, magazine, and any other media materials that were not originally produced for language
teaching purpose Brinton 1989:17. The authentic materials give students a relation between classroom and the real world. As language is supposedly used
in real world, getting the materials as closely resemble as the real world proved to provide good simulation for students to practice how to use the language.
For vocational school students, the authentic materials which they need may be limited to those which are related to their field of study. This way, the
teaching and learning process become more effective. In can be concluded from all the statements regarding CBI that in a class
where all the students have specific goals or specific needs, CBI will serve as a great helping hand in supporting the students. Fortunately, the learning steps
stated in Curriculum 2013 can be integrated with the principles of CBI approach. Therefore, the use of Content-based learning in the learning
materials can be realized.
4. Materials Development for Vocational High School a. Definition of Materials
Learning material helps teacher to achieve the objectives of the learning and then achieve the goal of the learning. Hence, the existence of learning is
vital in instructional process. According to Tomlinson 1998, materials are used to help teaching language learners. Materials can be in the form of a
textbook, a cassette, a CD-ROM, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph written on a white board, or anything which presents or informs
about the language being learned. Nunan 1992 in Indr iyati and Sa’jaun
2009:3 states that teaching materials are often the most substantial and observable component of pedagogy. They determine the quality of language
input and the language practices during the learning process in the classroom. In addition, Cunningsworth in Richards 2003 summarizes the role of materials
especially textbook in language teaching as: 1.
A resource for presentation materials spoken and written, 2.
A source of activities for learners to practice communicative interaction,
3. A reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary,
pronunciation and so on, 4.
A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities, 5.
A syllabus where they reflect learning objectives that have already been determined,
6. A support for less experience teachers who have not gained confidence yet.
It has been noted that ESP classes deal with learners with specific needs. As a result, the learning material of ESP is actually different with the General
English. ESP teachers tend to produce their own instructional materials rather than relying on the ones being sold in the store Hutchinson Waters, 1987.
The commercially produced materials often cannot meet the specific needs of the ESP learners that the teacher taught. In deciding, developing, and adapting
materials, a number of factors should be taken into consideration. Graves 1996 states that two of the most important factors in choosing the learning
materials are the effectiveness of the materials in achieving the purpose of the course and their appropriateness for the students and teachers. Tomlinson
2003:109 describes that there are a number of principles that should be considered in designing learning materials. He mentions the six principles of
material design identified by Nunan 1988: 1. Materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve.
2. Materials should be authentic in terms of the text and task. 3. Materials should stimulate interaction.
4. Materials should encourage students to focus on formal aspects of the language.
5. Materials should encourage students to develop skills, and skills in learning.
6. Materials should encourage students to apply their developing skills to the world beyond the classroom.
The existence of learning materials are crucial in the process of teaching and learning. As it has been said above that learning materials are anything that
helps students achieve the objectives of the learning and the goal of the learning, using appropriate learning materials makes students able to achieve their own
goal in learning. Therefore, once again, the developed learning materials in this research will be developed with the aims to help students achieve their learning
objectives and learning goals which can be deduced after conducting the needs analysis. There are also six principles of developing learning materials that are
followed by the researcher. Those principles are: One, materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve. This means the developed will be
developed based on the recent curriculum which is Curriculum 2013. Two, materials should be authentic in terms of the text and task. As it has been said
the previous explanation, the tasks and texts used in the developed learning materials are the ones which are authentic and taken from the ones used in
everyday lives. Three, materials should stimulate interaction, Four, materials should encourage students to focus on formal aspects of the language. The
language used in the learning materials will mostly be comprised of formal language according to the proper grammar and the use of slang is reduced to
the minimum. Five, materials should encourage students to develop skills, and skills in learning, and six, materials should encourage students to apply their
developing skills to the world beyond the classroom. One of the way to do this is by using reinforcement tasks which are focused on activities outside the
classroom.
b. Criteria of Good Learning Materials
In choosing and developing learning materials for vocational school students, it needs to be remembered that the learning materials must be
goodappropriate. In the general sense, the appropriate learning material helps students to achieve their learning goal. Sugeng 2010:101-107 points out that
a teacher must consider the criteria for good selection of instructional materials. There are also explanations about criteria of a good learning material which can
be used as a basis theory in developing a learning material. The criteria are as follows:
1. Significance
Significant materials are the materials that suit the students’ needs.
Significant materials also consider students’ interests and motivation because the two factors play important role to promote the stude
nts’ success in learning. The more the materials is related to the students’
needs, the more significant the materials for the students. 2.
Validity Validity of a material requires the material to present what it supposed
to present. The three criteria for valid materials are accuracy, authenticity, and correctness. The first is accuracy. Accuracy is related
to format and grammar. The materials have to be presented in a correct
format and use correct grammar. The second is authenticity. Authenticity is the resemblance of the materials to native language use
in real life situation. The last is correctness. Correctness is related to the content of the message of the information.
3. Social Relevance
This Criteria is related to the social needs of the students. Good materials have to promote moral values and ideals and it features social
problems found in students’ life 4.
Learnability Learnability means the materials have to facilitate learning well. The
students should have no difficulties in dealing with the materials. Learnability can be handled by knowing the student
s’ readiness or by knowing the readability measure of the materials.
In order for the developed English learning materials to be effectively used by the students, the four criteria of the learning materials should be
fulfilled. Therefore the developed learning materials, according to the four criteria of good materials will be developed to be related with students’ needs
and interests. The materials will also be accurate in terms of grammar and the format, using authentic texts, correct in terms of content, integrated with moral
values, and the tasks are developed to be challenging.
c. Advantages of Developing Materials
